Office 365 Distilled

What can go wrong with introducing new features and functionality from the Microsoft365 set of applications?

In this episode of Office365Distilled, Steve gives Marijn something to look forward to as he starts the podcast with a howl...

Then the conversation turns to a lot of golden nuggets as areas of change risk are identified before moving to look at where people can be forced... or encouraged to do things differently.

Enjoy everyone, and maybe we will see you at the MGM Grand in December at the great Las Vegas... the place on earth for conferences... 

Recorded live from The Ageas Bowl or, more specifically, the Hilton hotel at the Rose Bowl,  Southampton, Hampshire.

It sounds like the record sleeve from a 1970 rock album, which is a good description of what Steve and Marijn did on a quiet Thursday afternoon during the Ignite 2022 Microsoft Conference Day at the South Coast Summit.  This podcast recorded live was a great success providing the audience that Marijn and Steve sometimes miss when recording in Steve’s office on a Tuesday evening.

Check it out as the 100th birthday party edition takes shape, and the audience seems to bring out the worse in both of them, and secrets are revealed about how Offcie365Distilled.com is put together and the huge amount of hours that go into each episode to bring you the magic that is the Office365Distilled Podcast from Marijn Somers and Steve Dalby.

Steve brings together his series of Wee Drams about preparing for Improvement with the final episode called Innovate everywhere

Innovation is not always a ‘Giant Step for Mankind’. Sometimes Innovation is introverted and focused on a small audience.  We do learn that, of course, M365 innovation is driven by our own User Stories sent to Microsoft and if it is something that the user base needs, then it gets built.

We take a quick check on the current status of MS Team changes as this podcast is recorded a few weeks ahead of Ignite 2022, when we do expect some large differences in terms of Mesh for Teams that will be across the enterprise but compare this to a change in Excel (check out EP99 of O365Distilled) that will be for very few people.

Not every change is giant... many are small and focused.  But it is innovation, and we should be awaiting that something new in our own organisation feels like innovation that has value that needs to be managed as a change.

Microsoft IDEA structure for Digital transformation is supported by a web site and full program documentation.  Marijn starts with ‘I ‘ from I.D.E.A., the Microsoft Catalyst IDEA framework.

‘I‘ stands for Inspire, and in this wee dram, he takes you through the 4 steps to success with inspiration and understanding of the customer’s expectations for the process, business expectations and what their next step might be.

Look to the future and prepare for Marijn’s next Wee Dram on this subject... Design.

These notes will be short because this EP99 podcast is simple and focused on a single subject which for the boys is very rare...

Talking about Excel and when excel was introduced to the market and how Steve and Marijn thought they would have a great case for moving people from Excel to SharePoint lists and find that maybe there are not many even no, specific reasons to drive users away from excel to M365 Lists

The session turns out to simply select the best examples of using Excel and M365 lists without saying one is better than the other....   It just shows that even the most experienced and best can make mistakes.

Steve keeps asking the hard questions, which lead us to understand Lists more and their roles in the M365 ecosystem. 

The podcast’s ending is great because Gianni, who won the One Inch Party, sent over a great sample of Aberfeldy 16 year old, which was worth a taste  (he also sent over a sample of Cruach-Mhone from Bunnahabhain), all very much appreciated.

The podcast where Steve has a great idea on site names and waffles on without a conclusion.

Where Marijn says, ”Sorry, keep going I will interrupt you later”   and then  “ Hold on and let me continue”  and it is decided Marijn can interrupt as much as he likes but Steve has to do as he is told…

Our Sponsor Braeburn Whisky for this episode gets a great mention https://braeburnwhisky.com/ 

The boys start on the Roadmap workshop that defines the order of products that will be released and feeds back to the team what order they will process the project.  Roadmap Strategy is required and agreed by the business… then the boys get stuck on questions around what the minimum settings are…  and Steve has a Daaa moment when he works out Marijn is right…

Governance workshop takes frontstage and arguably the most important as so much is decided within this and getting then documented means you know so much about the project already

Content workshops are discussed that incorporate so much decision making…  The Elephant in the room ‘ Content Types’ hits the discussion with a few erm and aaass when Steve rounds out what is needed to get started and define the baseline

The content workshop identified so much about the future of the project, migration, Change and Adoption Taxonomy strategy and some search aspects of the project…

Portals are mentioned and Wendy wants to get involved… she has something to say… and then Steve puts Marijn on the spot with portals.  It is agreed an Intranet is a portal and opens up a bunch of things to decide like audiences, Viva Connect etc. all associated with publishing content…

Migration cannot be forgotten so they do list the things that is required to ensure migration takes place… then some workshop around servicing the M365 environment with the helpdesk etc.

After tasting Isobel Gowdie a Linkwood 14 year old cask strength whisky from Cask88 https://cask88.com/witches/ 

Steve finishes with a few thoughts on the Vision workshops and suggests that Marijn is right but only if we accept there are more than one Vision workshops required to make this work and get it right…. 

Marijn is excited about his Envisioning sessions to set up the company on a journey. Still, during the discussion, we wonder if it might not get people excited when it could be several months before they get to try anything. So, whilst very important, timing how you communicate the company vision might not be the first workshop you do.  However, starting to set expectations at the C-Level and Senior management level might be a good idea.

Starting with the infrastructure workshop, they get hooked up in discussions about the naming of tenants (we are still not sure who is correct). Still, the thought is to get the infrastructure workshop completed early on with the right people in the groups.  Many decisions at this level define the coming workload.

It’s also worth thinking strategically about services, multitenancy etc.

Identity and a few others will cause issues like who owns the user’s Admins, AD admins, HR etc., so be prepared and ensure all parties are in the same room.

Some words are spoken about the people involved and how they might be upset of losing control to the cloud etc.  So, pull in a great partner or Microsoft to ensure all the infrastructure teams have a level of comfort.

There is a disagreement (always fun) and Marijn starts Steve thinking about which comes first, the Adoption or Email or Supporting workshop to understand the new way of IT supporting the new cloud services

Road mapping is important to understand where you are in the process of changing the company and the way of working and aligning development plans to power platform etc., or if you will remain with existing dev tools.

The idea of splitting the Adoption and communications and when to start the personae decisions and special needs so maybe the adoption and change conversation is needed to baseline the governance.

Identifying the user-focused people for the Ambassadors and core users is important, but then we need to think about the end user-focused workshops so that become Episode 98...

The Whisky plays memory games with Steve after Marijn asks him to dig deep into the memory banks to identify the point when he realised, he loved Irish whisky.  That took him to an Irish bar in Rome.

A Black Bush 80/20 PX Sherry Cask Reserve, has a good recommendation for a great price with a complex flavour... well worth looking for a bottle

Keeping Change and Adoption Real: The Workshop ... Come and see us live this year...

South Coast Summit:  October 14th 2022
Tickets:https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/keeping-change-and-adoption-real-1-day-workshop-tickets-359518869617

M365 Conference – Las Vagas: December 9th
Register:https://www.m365conf.com/#!/workshop/Keeping%20Change%20and%20Adoption%20Real:%20The%20Workshop/5553

And on the podcast...

Steve and Marijn kick off their Summer podcasts with a quick check on their Vacations and a Proud Dad tells you about his daughter obtaining her Degree and the graduation parties

Marijn lists all the injuries he was plagued with on the dangerous holiday park he stayed at in France.  Steve did a road trip around the south of England and Wales.

The boys have a busy end of the year with presentations and workshops in Belgium, the Netherlands, Copenhagen, UK and USA  (Vagas Baby...) 

Microsoft put Viva Goals into GA this week, so Steve and Marijn start talking about OKRs, the business's implications, and all that you need to prepare for.

Goals will allow the organisation to be transparent in what Objectives the board has decided will drive the business forward.  Recent statistics from Microsoft show that 77% of the workforce needs more purpose in their work.  Viva Goals could be a way to change that statistic to the most positive.

Steve considered the old MC server system, which included 3 servers that started with the High-level programs followed by the Projects and then the client tools.  You could not create a project unless it was a vital aspect of the program and connected.  This allowed a roll-up of the program costs and delivery.

The conversation comes to the most significant consideration, which is the fact that to make this work, it requires buy-in from the highest level to the lowest action.

Marijn and Steve finish by going Welsh and tasting the Penderyn Hiraeth No8 in the 50 special release whiskies coming from the South Wales distillery in the Brecon Beacons.  Steve admits to not being the biggest fan of their standards but this one is lifted above many.

With the possibilities of empowering the business to create their own Intranet site that is based on the same template with Governance built in.

Building a SharePoint site for the end user is like buying yourself a new 40th Birthday cigar lighter that is complex and needs a few You Tube videos to ensure you operate it correctly.  Your Corporate SharePoint look book might just be the tool to do that.

With the opportunities to automate your site creation by the users from the press of a button Marijn extends the concept to consider Governance capabilities that can add variety to the templates enabling both functionality and content protection based on the level of assurance the site requires.